The man who committed a home-invasion robbery against former City Councilman Harry Mathis was handed a 93-years-to-life prison sentence Dec. 12, but 35 years of that sentence was for an armed robbery at a Sprint store in Point Loma.

Because Harvey Henry Duson, 46, has a long criminal record, San Diego Superior Court Judge Eugenia Eyherabide said, “This is why the legislature made the three-strike law.”

Duson received 25 years consecutively for several crimes against Mathis and his wife, who were held against their will in their University City home on Jan. 11. Mathis, now 79, was beaten in the face and Duson set the home on fire before he and another unidentified suspect fled.

But Duson also received 25 years to life for the Nov. 9, 2011 armed robbery at the Sprint store on Rosecrans Street and 10 years consecutively for using a gun during the crime. Eyherabide ordered Duson to pay $8,000 to the Sprint store and $40 to an employee who was also robbed.

On that day, two Sprint workers were ordered to the ground and were tied up with nylon while Duson and another man stole cell phones and money. The workers eventually freed themselves with scissors and called 9-1-1.

Duson pleaded guilty to all charges Sept. 10. He was on parole when he committed the Sprint store robbery and the crimes against Mathis, who is the chairman of the Metropolitan Transit System board.

Sheriff’s Det. Peter Carrillo, who shot Duson after Duson pulled a gun on Carillo when Duson was an employee at a Pizza Hut in 1993, appeared at the sentencing to urge the judge to impose the maximum sentence for Duson, whom he called “a career criminal.”

“I’m angry this man was released into society [after the 1993 incident] to harm people again,” said Carrillo.

Career criminal gets 93-years-to-life term
The man who committed a home-invasion robbery against former City Councilman Harry Mathis was handed a 93-years-to-life prison sentence Dec. 12, but 35 years of that sentence was for an armed robbe...